Nandin: the joyful devotee of Shiva

The vahana of Shiva, the vehicle of the great God, is a bull Nandin.  

Nandin in Sanskrit means "joyful" and this placid animal is also the most fervent devotee of Mahadeva.
The bull symbolizes vigor, virtue, the moral rectitude and wisdom, but also the sexual instinct dominated by Shiva. 

Along with the cow, the bull is considered a sacred animal in India, the bearer of good fortune and wisdom. 

Its imprint, nandipada, it is equally sacred and bearer of good fortune. 

Nandin is always guarding the door of Shiva and prevents jamming to distract Shiva from his occupation: meditating or loving with Parvati. 

In all the temples, in front of the room where is placed the image of Shiva, the Lingam, is always placed Nandin because it is disrespectful for a mere mortal to apply directly to the great God, the faithful whisper in bull's ear their requests. It will then be the bull in reference to their God. Especially in South India, the images and statues of the bull Nandin are widespread. 

One of the biggest bull is Nandin in Mysore, city of Karnataka, where on the Chamundi Hill is a huge bull, five meters high, carved from a single block of stone in 1659 and depicted in the photo to the side. 

Another huge Nandi is before the wonderful Brihadishvara Temple, the Shiva temple of Thanjavur (or Tanjore). A six-meter long statue of granite that looks toward the main door of the temple.

Faithful Shaiva in Temple of Goddess Meenakshi in Madurai whisper in the ear of Nandin their requests to God Shiva.

Nandin has many epithets, including Tandavatalika when he plays and accompanies the dance of Shiva Nataraja and Nandikeshvara which means 'joy of the Lord'. 

In this bas-relief brass at the base of the flag of a Shaiva temple is depicted Nandin leading Shiva and Parvati represented by the Shivalingam.

The story of Matsyagandha then called Satyavati

Chinese nets in Cochin

The history and literature of India handed down stories and legends of all kinds. Some are very unusual as that of the beautiful Matsyagandha that we find in the Mahabharata.
Very, very long ago there was a king named Uparichara and ruled the kingdom of Chedi. Like all the Kshatriyas - the warrior caste – he was fond of hunting. One day the king was ready to leave for a hunting trip with his favorite hawk when his wife asked him to stay in bed with her. She was eager to join her husband, she wanted a son. But the king would not, he was now ready and preferred to go hunting.
But when he found himself in the forest the king could not catch any prey, he realized that his mind had remained in the palace, in his room, now he wished his wife, it would have been better if he stayed in his bed.
Growing desire of his wife, Uparichara is excited to the point that scattered his seed. Then he picked it up on a banana leaf and handed it to his faithful hawk so take it to the queen.
The falcon left, but while it was flying was attacked by an eagle, in the clash the leaf with the seed fell into a river.
That river was inhabited by many fishes including Adrika, an apsara - that is a heavenly nymph - which had been converted into fish by the curse of an ascetic. Adrika rushed and swallowed the seed of the king, being pregnant immediately.
After nine months in that river a fisherman fishing Adrika. Took it home to clean the gutted, but he was stunned to see that in the belly of the fish were a boy and a girl.
The fisherman, very upset, ran to the King Uparichara, telling what happened and asking him to allow him to keep at least one of the children. The king thought for a long time and then decided to keep the male and to leave the female to the fisherman. The girl was named Matsyagandha which means ‘who one smells of fish’ the she was called Satyavati and she had an important role. But this is another tale.

Jaya, Vijaya and four Kumaras

Vishnu with Garuda

Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana, and Sanatkumara were the Kumaras, the four beings born from the mind of Brahma at the origin of the creation.

One day the Kumara decided to go to pay homage to Vishnu and presented themselves to the gate of Vaikuntha, the kingdom of God.

The Kumaras, thanks to their meditation and a gift given to them by Brahma, they always look like children, kumara in Sanskrit means in fact child.

When Jaya and Vijaya, who were guarding the gates of Vaikuntha, saw these four children, they blocked their passage, saying that Vishnu was resting and could not be bothered.

The Kumaras replied that Vishnu always had time for his own devotees and that no one could stop them. But Jaya and Vijay were adamant.

The Kumaras then decided to teach a lesson to those two guards and threw them a curse would be reborn on earth as mortal beings.

The two realized their mistake too late, then they went to Vishnu to be loose from the curse.

"You know that no one can be dissolved by a curse when it was launched - said Vishnu - so you have to be born as mortals. I give you, however, two alternatives: you can be born seven times as my devotees or you can be born as my enemies, but only three times."

Jaya and Vijaya much thought to the two alternatives. Finally, they decided to be born just three times as enemies of Vishnu, because they could not think of being separated from God for seven long earthly lives.

The first time Jaya and Vijaya were born as Hiraneyaksha and Hiraneyakashyipu in Satya Yuga. Hiranyaksha was a asura, a demon who was killed by Vishnu came to earth as Varaha, the boar lifted the earth from the cosmic ocean floor. While Hiranyakasipuvenne killed by Narasimha, also avatar of Vishnu.

Jaya and Vijaya were born then as Ravana and Kumbhakarna in Treta yuga and were killed by Vishnu in his avatar of Rama and Lakshmana.

Jaya and Vijaya finally finally born in Dwapara Yuga as Sisupala and Dantavakra and were killed by Balarama and Krishna, avatar of the god Vishnu.

Jaya and Vijaya then had three times as enemies of Vishnu and three times they were killed by avatars of the great God. 

At the end of their third life, they obtained the liberation and came back to the doors of Vaikhunta.

Nandin: the joyful devotee of Shiva

The vahana of Shiva, the vehicle of the great God, is a bull Nandin.   

Nandin in Sanskrit means "joyful" and this placid animal is also the most fervent devotee of Mahadeva. 

The bull symbolizes vigor, virtue, the moral rectitude and wisdom, but also the sexual instinct dominated by Shiva. 

Along with the cow, the bull is considered a sacred animal in India, the bearer of good fortune and wisdom. 

Its imprint, nandipada, it is equally sacred and bearer of good fortune. 

Nandin is always guarding the door of Shiva and prevents jamming to distract Shiva from his occupation: meditating or loving with Parvati. 

In all the temples, in front of the room where is placed the image of Shiva, the Lingam, is always placed Nandin because it is disrespectful for a mere mortal to apply directly to the great God, the faithful whisper in bull's ear their requests. It will then be the bull in reference to their God. Especially in South India, the images and statues of the bull Nandin are widespread. 

One of the biggest bull is Nandin in Mysore, city of Karnataka, where on the Chamundi Hill is a huge bull, five meters high, carved from a single block of stone in 1659 and depicted in the photo to the side. 

Another huge Nandi is before the wonderful Brihadishvara Temple, the Shiva temple of Thanjavur (or Tanjore). A six-meter long statue of granite that looks toward the main door of the temple.

Faithful Shaiva in Temple of Goddess Meenakshi in Madurai whisper in the ear of Nandin their requests to God Shiva.

Nandin has many epithets, including Tandavatalika when he plays and accompanies the dance of Shiva Nataraja and Nandikeshvara which means 'joy of the Lord'. 

In this bas-relief brass at the base of the flag of a Shaiva temple is depicted Nandin leading Shiva and Parvati represented by the Shivalingam.

Kirtimukha: the monster who ate itself

Kirtimukha

Do you remember Rahu, the demon decapitated by Vishnu during the 'churning of the ocean'? Well, one day he was used by Jalandhara, demon tyrant very complex origins of that one day I will say, as his messenger.

Jalandhara was master of the three worlds and, thanks to his hard austerities, had immense power, but someone pointed out that he didn't have all. He missed Parvati, the most beautiful woman in the world, the goddess  who had been married to Lord Shiva. 

"Shiva, the ascetic beggar, why did he have a woman so beautiful?" wondered Jalandhara. "I want her!" 

That said, he called Rahu and sent him as his ambassador to Shiva. 

"Go to Shiva and  tell him to give me Parvati, if he refuses, it will be war." 

As a good messenger, Rahu went to Shiva and told him the request of his master. 

Heard the request, Shiva became furious and was born from his third eye a terrible creature with a lion's mane, eyes of fire, its body thin and emaciated. A monster violent and very strong, but above all very hungry who immediately pounced on Rahu. 

The victim turned to Shiva, the asolute god and begged to be spared. 

Shiva intervened and ordered the demon  not to eat Rahu. 

"And then who am I eating? You created me with this insatiable hunger, like I can at least soothe it? "

"Eat yourself," said Shiva. 

And so, the monster ate its own legs, its arms, its bodies and he was only one furious head.

"Henceforth - Shiva told him - you'll be Kirtimukha, the glorious face. I want you always in front of my door and who will enter my home without having worshiped before you, he will not get anything of what he asks for. "

For this reason, on the portals of the Hindu temples, palaces, and houses there is often a monstrous face, is the face of glory, Kirtimukha.

Sati doubts Shiva

Sati asked for an explanation to her father, Daksha

Do you remember when Daksha organized his great sacrifice and not invited Shiva and his wife Sati, who was also the daughter of Daksha? Autoimmolò Sati and Shiva destroyed the sacrifice and beheaded Daksha (click here to learn more).

But how was it possible that the wife of the greatest and most powerful of the gods died, she was the embodiment of the supreme goddess? How is it possible that Shiva was deprived of his beloved wife?

The Shiva Purana gives an explanation.

When Brahma was able to convince Shiva to take a wife, the great god put three conditions.

His wife had to be a woman able to sustain his seed of gold, she had to be a woman devoted to meditation when Shiva was meditating, but also passionate lover in the erotic relationship with her husband, and finally she had to be a woman who would never doubted him. "If she will doubt for a moment of me I'll abandon her," said Shiva to Brahma.

There were the suitable woman, she was Sati, the supreme goddess incarnated in one of the daughters of Daksha and all went well for thousands of years. Sati showed great amateur, but also able to spend thousands of years in meditation together with her ​​husband.

But one day, the certainty of Shiva on his wife nicked.

Shiva and Sati in fact met Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, and the two greeted each other by bowing.

Sati asked Shiva why he, the supreme god, he had bowed to a mortal and Shiva explained to her that Rama was not a mortal but the god Vishnu.

Sati was puzzled and Shiva told her, " If you do not believe me, test him."

And so did Sati, she became Sita, Rama's wife who had been kidnapped by Ravana,  to see if Rama would recognize the deception. Rama, being a god, discovered the deception and Sati immediately convinced . But she had doubted Shiva.

Then came the crime of the sacrifice of Daksha which Shiva and Sati had not been invited .

Sati asked the reason for such treatment and Shiva replied, " Daksha consider me as an enemy, so we were not invited."

But Sati replied, "He can not do the sacrifice without us, he didn't invite us because I am his daughter, and he thought that there was no need to call anyone, I'm going to see."

For the second time Sati doubted her husband.

As they went to finish things we know. Sati - humiliated by the behavior of the father - is burned on the pyre. The marriage with Shiva had this end.

The popularity of Ganesh

One day the great god Shiva promised paradise to all those who had worshiped him in the form of the lingam at the temple of Somnath in Gujarat.

Heard about it, all men and all women of any kind, good and bad, saints and sinners, young and old, went on a pilgrimage to Somnath to worship the lingam and obtain heaven.

Shiva had made ​​the promise and could not retract it and so the heaven became too crowded.

The other Gods began to complain about the crowding and confusion, someone said that even under these conditions had become more livable hell then heaven.

It was decided to ask for help to God who solves every problem, Ganesh.

The elephant-headed God promised to intervene, so he went to Somnath, sat near the temple of Shiva and asked a group of people who came to worship the lingam:

"Where are you going in such large numbers?"

"Do you not know - answered - we go to worship Mahadeva who promised us heaven!"

"What fools - Ganesh said - I do not think a good thing to promise something to someone when he'll dead, worshiped me and you'll get now, in life, everything you want."

"You - Ganesh said pointing to a man - what do you want?"

"A beautiful house - he replied - and plenty of food." And so it was. Ganesh made ​​him have a beautiful home filled with all the most delicious food.

"We want a child!" cried then a married couple who were suffered satisfied.

"I want to be passed at school," said a boy who, thanks to Ganapati, brilliantly passed his exams.

People no longer wanted to go to heaven but to live a better life. Heaven, with great joy of the Gods emptied gradually, and people returning home told about God that answered prayers on this earth.

For this reason, Ganesh, son of Shiva and Parvati, has become the most popular deity in all India.

Nala and Damayanti

Nala and Damayanti (by R.R. Varma)

Nala, the young King of Nishada, and Damayanti, the beautiful daughter of Bhima King of Vidarbha, were madly in love with each other .

The two had never seen, but Nala was madly in love with this girl whose beauty was legendary and she, Damayanti, was lost for the young king, whose was extolled the strength and honesty, beauty and goodness, charm and affability.

When the time came, the king Bhima  organized his daughter's Swayamvara, the ceremony during which the princess had to choose her spouse by putting on his neck a garland of flowers.

Many kings and princes of the whole earth went to Swayamvara and even four powerful Gods: Indra, Varuna, Agni and Yama, all drawn by the irresistible beauty of Damayanti.

The king Nala on the way encountered the four Gods, and bowed at their feet declaring their servant, willing to do anything for them. 

The Gods then asked Nala  to go to Damayanti and tell her that she had to choose one of them as a husband. To allow Nala to enter in the royal palace, the Gods gave him a mantra that would make him invisible.

With a heavy heart, Nala performed his task, but the princess said, "I will make the worthy honors to those powerful Gods, but as a husband I will choose the man who dwells in my heart for a long time."

Known response of the princess, the four Gods then decided to take all four of the appearance of Nala so that when the master of ceremonies announced the entrance of the king of Nishada, entered all five sovereigns perfectly equal to each other. All the people who attended the ceremony were amazed, five men all identical to each other!

At the climax of the Swayamvara, the time at which the princess was to encircle the neck of chosen with a garland of flowers, Damayanti however had no hesitation and chose the real Nala.

The Gods were astonished and asked the princess how she had to recognize the true Nala.

"I saw Nala placed his feet on the ground, his body gave shade and beating cilia, all of which you, being divine beings, do not and so I chose him, the man I love."

King Dusyanta and beloved Sakuntala

Durvasha's curse

Her name was Sakuntala, she was the adopted daughter of the sage Kanva with whom she lived in a hermitage in the forest. She was beautiful.

King Dusyanta - went into the forest to hunt -  saw her, he fell in love with her and asked her to marry him.

"I do not know your name - said Sakuntala - do not know your heart, but my love for you, or cruel ,torture my body which want you." And the two were married.

After having been for a while with Sakuntala, king Dusyanta told her that he had to return to his kingdom, and that he would send a delegation to take her with full honors at the palace.

"But when you come back," asked Sakuntala who had a bad feeling.

"Here - Dusyanta said - I give you this royal ring on which is engraved my name, every day has a letter, you will be with me before the last letter."

In the meantime, had come to the hermitage Durvasha, a powerful wandering hermit. He was very irritable.

He repeatedly asked hospitality of Sakuntala, but the young - thoughting just of Dusyanta - did not hear him.

Durvasha - angry at the lack of respect - cursed the young, "the one which now you're thinking, you who do not accept the guests, will not remember you!"

The friends of Sakuntala - came to know of the terrible curse cast by Durvasha - asked withdraw it. But - as you know - the curses once launched cannot be revoked, but only changed. Durvasha then said that he who was in the mind of Sakuntala and had lost memory, he regained his memory once saw an object that belonged to him.

The friends, knowing that Sakuntala had the royal ring, calmed.

By failing to send any delegation, the father of Sakuntala - who had been ready to accept the marriage - he sent his daughter to the royal palace.

After the ritual ablutions in the river, the young woman went and stood before the king.

Dusyanta - though troubled at the sight of the girl - denied ever seeing her and married her.

"Show me something that will make me remember you," asked the king.

Sakuntala was about to take off the royal ring Dusyanta had given her, but could not find it on her finger. She had lost it in the river during ablution she had done before leaving. Desperate and humiliated, the girl was gone.

Meanwhile the king's guards had arrested a fisherman who was trying to sell a ring with the royal seal.

"Where did you steal?" asked the guards.

"I swear, I caught a fish and in its belly I found this ring."

The guards, disbelief,  brought the fisherman before the king to judge him, but as soon as Dusyanta saw his ring, the memory came back to him and was in despair for not having accepted his beloved wife.

The king tried in vain Sakuntala and spent nearly six years when he accidentally came across an incredible baby. He was strong, brave, playing with forest animals, including lions, without fear.

The king asked him who he was and the child replied, "I am the son of the king Dusyanta."

Dusyanta then was led his wife and so was able to find his beloved Sakuntala.

The overwhelming passion of Urvashi and Pururavas

Urvashi

Do you remember Urvashi, the beautiful and sensual apsara born from the thigh of the wise man Narayana who now gladdens the living room of my house? Well, this is her tormented and passionate love affair with the king Pururavas.

The king Pururavas accidentally met the beautiful Urvashi and he fell madly in love only to see her.

The beautiful apsara agreed to marry the strong king, but only under three conditions. First of all, she would carry with her the lambs from which she never separated, secondly she should never have to see the king naked except during sexual intercourse and then she would be powered exclusively by drinking a drop of ghee, clarified butter.

The King - blinded with love - accepted all the conditions and married Urvashi.

The two lived together for four years, a sweeping love story, joining carnally every day for three times. But the beautiful Urvashi was required elsewhere.

The gandharvas, the heavenly musicians who live in the paradise of Indra, wanted her again and concocted a plan to stop that love so passionate.

At night they went to the home of Pururavas trying to steal lambs Urvashi. These began to bleat, woke Pururavas who - in order to save them - got up from the bed completely naked. At that moment, the gandharvas did crash in the sky a lightning that lit up everything as if it was day, allowing Urvashi to see her husband naked. Immediately the beautiful apsara vanished.

Pururavas despaired nights and days, he began to travel the length and breadth of the earth to find his lost bride, until one day he came to a lake where some beautiful swans were swimming. They were apsara Urvashi and her friends.

Urvashi could not resist and showed herself in her human forms to beloved husband.

Pururavas at the sight of his wife, begged her to return to him, but she - as stated in the Rig Veda (X, 95) -  denied, "back into your kingdom, I'm gone I like the dawn flees when he sees the sun, for you are now unreachable, unattainable as is the wind. "

But in the end, moved to compassion by the king who had also threatened to kill himself, Urvashi sends him back home, promising to meet again a year later.

Pururavas waited faithfully for a year on the day of the appointment, then having gone from Urvashi found her with Ayus, their first child.

The lovers embraced passionately and made love until Urvashi sent back the groom asking him to be faithful and giving appointment for the following year.

Pururavas waited another year and so for five years. Every year the two met, made love and conceived a child. Five sons in all.

The gandharvas were amazed at love, fidelity and perseverance of Puraravas and granted him to live with his beloved Urvashi.

The love between Pururavas and Urvashi remained paradigmatic for passion so that the two arani, that the sticks that were used to light the sacrificial fire by rubbing take their name from the two passionate lovers.

Krishna multiplied himself

Krishna

One day the god Brahma wanted to test the divinity and power of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu.

The young god had gone with his friends to bring grazing calves.

Arrived on the banks of river Yamuna, boys started playing when they realized that the animals  had disappeared into the forest. Krishna assured his companions and went in search of animals.

The research, however, did not lead to anything, Krishna could not find the animals which had been kidnapped by Brahma.

Returned on the banks of the Yamuna, Krishna was even more amazed, because his friends were gone, they too had been the god Brahma.

Thanks to his own divinity and powers, Krishna realized what had happened, Brahma was putting him to the test.

The young god  knew that Brahma would surely have given back children and calves to their homes, but there was a 'but', that is, that one moment of Brahma corresponds to a year for men, and therefore, even if the joke the god would certainly have been short, for men would last too.

Worried about the anxiety and pain that would affect the inhabitants of Vrndavana, thanks to his own divine powers, Krishna multiplied himself and took the forms, features, appearances, personalities of all the disappeared boys and all the calves too.

Being now evening, Krishna brought his friends and calves in their homes and no one noticed that those kids and those calves were nothing but Krishna, as in nothing they were different from boys and calves who were kidnapped by Brahma.

So when after a moment (divine) Brahma brought back the boys and calves in Vrndavana, a year had passed (human), but no one had noticed anything.

Urvashi in my dining room

My Urvashi

For my (yes) 50th birthday my family gave me a wonderful plaster statue from India 80 cm high.

She is a dancing woman, most likely an apsara, a heavenly nymph who inhabit the Swarga, the paradise of Indra the king of gods. It seems that the statue lay in the courtyard in front of the pool for washing in a temple in Rajasthan.

But who, of beautiful and seductive apsaras, is shown in this sculpture? I like to think that she is Urvashi, the most beautiful. Here's how she was born.

Narayana and Nara, two rishis, ie two Indian sages, were immersed in their meditations in the Himalayan foothills. Their efforts mystics and the hardships they had undergone began to worry the gods because they did not want two humans got too close to the condition of the gods.

To distract them from their meditations, Indra thought to send down two beautiful apsaras, convinced that faced with such beauty even the rishis and yogis wouldn’t resist or, at least, would be a bit distracted.

When the two apsaras presented themselves to holy men, Narayana looked at and passionless, laid a flower on his thigh or - according to another tradition - struck just above his thigh.

From this was born an apsara incomparably more beautiful of the two sent by Indra. 

Narayana gave that wonderful creature to Indra.

That apsara - who later had a very adventurous life that will tell you another time and which is now in the living room of my house - was Urvashi, whose name literally means, 'born from a thigh'.

Mandodari, thin waist

Mandodari

Madhura was beautiful. She was an apsara, a heavenly nymph, a devotee of Shiva. She was very religious and respected all the precepts of her own faith, including somvar vrat, fasting weekly dedicated to Mahadeva Shiva.
One day, she went to pay homage to God on Mount Kailash. Parvati, Shiva's wife, was not there, and Madhura, kidnapped by an ecstasy apparently not only mystical, laid with the God, ending the embrace before Parvati returned.

When Parvati came, she became suspicious of the presence of beautiful Madhura and suspicion became a certainty when she noticed on the body of Madhura part of the ash which Shiva used to cover themselves.

Parvati cursed Madhura and condemned her to live for twelve years as a frog in a well.

Madhura was desperate, so Shiva, who could not lift the curse of his wife,  promised to Madhura

that - after twelve years as a frog - she would be transformed into a beautiful girl and she was going to marry a powerful man.

So Madhura turned into a frog and lived for twelve years in a well.

After twelve years, Mayasura, king of the demons, and his wife Hema, a beautiful apsara, wanted to have a daughter in addition to the two sons and began to pray to Shiva.

One night Shiva appeared in a dream to the couple and told them to look into the Madhura's well.

The couple went straight to the well and they heard the cry of a child, looked into and found Madhura.

The couple took the girl they named Mandodari which in Sanskrit means " thin waist."

Once grown,  Mandodari married Ravana, powerfull king of Lanka, who abducted Sita, the wife of Rama as told in the Ramayana.

Mandodari is one of the so-called pancha kanya, five virgins. She was very wise and very devoted to her husband even though she tried with all her strength to convince him to return Sita and not to fight against the god Rama.

Harihara

Harihara, Vishnu on the left
and Shiva on the right

The sage Shankaracharya, pilosopher of Vedanta, had come on pilgrimage to a large city in India and asked to go to the main temple to give thanks to God, but the city was inhabited mainly by people of faith Vaishnava and the temple the city was dedicated to Vishnu. This was a problem as it was known that Shankara was a Shaivite and at that time the contrasts between the two confessions were very hard. 

The Brahmans of the temple therefore refused to grant permission to Shankara to enter the temple. The wise man then spoke to the Brahmans, and citizens, he explained his theory of the one God, the basis of Vedanta. To prove the correctness of his beliefs, he invited the Brahmans to go in garbhagrha, the most sacred sanctuary of the temple, one that preserves the main deity. The Brahmans went where it was kept a statue of Vishnu and found that the statue was changed. For half it was still represented Vishnu, but in the other half was represented Shiva. Harihara was born, God, half Vishnu and half Shiva, also called Shambuvishnu or Shankaranarayana. 

Convinced by the words and 'miracle' of Sankara, it was allowed to enter the temple to the sage. This legend explains Harihara worship of the god half Vishnu and half Shiva, trying to end to the sectarian warfare that characterized 'medieval' Hinduism and representation of the basic concept of Hinduism throughout the oneness of God, to beyond the many forms in which it is venerated.

In Harihara, the left half represents Vishnu with his usual attributes, including the royal crown and the disk. In the half left is Shiva with matted hair, the crescent moon, the stream that represents the Ganges and the Trishula.

Hari in Sanskrit means yellow, but also fascinating, beautiful all the epithets of Vishnu and Hara means take away, remove, and is one of the 1008 names of Shiva, the destroyer, which, in fact, take away.

In Harihara then we have the preservation and destruction in one image, the space (Vishnu) and time (Shiva) present in a syncretism of the theological meaning very pregnant. 

There is another tradition that harks back to the Puranas, I'll talk about in another post.

Gautama, Indra and beautiful Ahalya

Ahalya

The sage Gautama, one of Saptarishi (the seven greatest sages of Hinduism), lived with his beautiful wife Ahalya in a isolated hermitage near the city of Mithila.

Ahalya was born from the mind of Brahma as the purest and most beautiful woman in the universe. In fact, her name A-Halya in Sanskrit is "without ugliness" and also "non-plowed", meaning "virgin."

The texts of the Indian tradition, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, many Brahmanas and Puranas narrate the incredible story of Ahalya, Indra and Gautama. Here, more or less how things went.

Indra, the king of the Gods, the slayer of the demon Vrita, the God always drunk as a drinker of soma, the nectar of the Gods, he was very sensitive to the feminine charms. One day he saw the beautiful Ahalya, filled with desire, sought a way to join her in secret from her husband.

One day, as soon as Gautama had left the hermitage to perform his meditations, Indra took the form of Gautama and went to Ahalya pretending to be her husband.

According to some traditions, at once the beautiful young woman knew that the man was Indra and not Gautama, but she was pleased that the king of the Gods wanted her.

According to other texts, she was deceived, or even raped by Indra.

However, Indra and Ahalya joined sexually with mutual satisfaction.

When Gautama returned, met with Indra and knew, through his yogic powers, what had happened.

The rishi, angry, cursed Indra. 

Even here the traditions are differ. According to some, Indra was forced to have a green beard, very little punishment of his sin. According to other texts, Indra was doomed to be defeated and imprisoned by Indrajit son of the demon Ravana, then what actually happened.

According to other traditions, the punishment was even more atrocious. It is said that Gautama punish the king of the Gods covering his body with thousands of vaginas (yoni) and hence the Indra’s nickname "sayoni" "full of vulvas”. 

The Gods, pitying, transformed those vaginas into eyes and Indra’s nickname from "full of vulvas" became "sahasraksha" "with many eyes."

According to the Ramayana however, Gautama cursed Indra, saying, "You cannot contain your erotic desires, you have deceived a wise man, you will lose your manhood!"

That said, the testicles of Indra fell to the ground leaving the king deprived of his virile power.

The unfaithful wife was cursed too. What?

According some traditions, she was petrified, according others she, a symbol of beauty, became ugly and dry, according others she was forced to live eating air, lying in the ashes, suffering the guilt and remaining in this sad situation without the comfort of her husband for hundreds of thousands of years.

In any case, the curse against Ahalya would dissolve as soon as the God Ram, avatar of Vishnu, had not passed from those places restoring the lost purity.

Indra, for his part, was desperate. The king of the Gods could not be castrated andwent to other Gods, begging them to help him. In front of them Indra justified his own behavior, "I joined Ahalya not because of lust but to arouse the wrath of the sage Gautama who with his austerities and meditations had attained too much energy and too much power and could undermine the dominance of the Gods, now he is angry and cursed me, but he has lost its ascetic powers."

The Gods believed a little what Indra sayed, but they decided to help him and went to Mani, telling him, "Oh Mani, you have a beautiful ram, give its genitals to Indra who is free, we promise that from now on, the castrated ram will be used for sacrifice and then eaten."

Indra received the testicles of a ram and then used ram for the sacrifice and men began to eat the meat of castrated rams.

Shining lingam

We saw in the previous post, that the Vaishnava traditions narrate myths and legends to prove the supremacy of Vishnu over the other Gods of the Trimurti, and to explain why the god Brahma isn't worshiped in India. But of course there are myths and traditions of Shaivism that support exactly the opposite tesis: Shiva is the greatest among the Gods, who is the Absolute, the principle of all things. In short, the Skanda Purana, the Vayu Purana or Linga Purana tell us a different story. This one.

Lingamyoni

At the beginning of time, when nothing had been created, or, more precisely, in the period that elapsed between the destruction/absorption of the Universe and the creation of a new Universe, Vishnu was lying on the serpent Ananta sure to be the most powerful among all the Gods. Unexpected, however, appeared Brahma, who claimed to be the creator of the universe, who by whom all things are born. Between the two Gods arose a dispute, each supported with many issues to be the Absolute, and each told the facts, actions and heroic deeds that were supposed to prove their supremacy over the other.

But while this dispute was going on, in the vastness of space there was a deafening roar, a roar accompanied by a light beam, a column appeared suddenly glowing from the hell that came up to the infinite spaces spearing the oceans and the earth. It was a  infinite  and resplendent lingam, flamboyant and powerful, who left amazed and terrified the two Gods.

"But what is that?"  astonished Vishnu and Brahma asked. To understand they  decided that Vishnu would be plunged into the depths of the ocean and Brahma would fly in the infinite spaces to reach the two ends of that shining column which naked eye they could not measure, nor height nor depth.

Vishnu became a boar and plunged into the ocean, Brahma became a wild goose and flew in the celestial spaces. Their journey lasted over a thousand years, but for what they tried, they failed to reach the end of the column of fire that continued to grow.

Returning to the surface the two looked at each other, Vishnu admitted that he was not able to find the beginning of the lingam, Brahma instead, to win the challenge with Vishnu, lied saying he reached the summit at the fiery lingam.

At that moment, in the pillar of fire a fissure opened from which Shiva emerged, the Lord of lingam self-manifested and proclaimed his own supremacy as the Absolute, as creator, preserver and destroyer of the Universe, everything that exists including the two Gods. Vishnu and Brahma prostrated in front of the great God, and worshiped him recognizing his supremacy.

But it did not end there. According to the Skanda Purana, Shiva also launched a curse against Brahma becsause he had lied by claiming to have reached the top of the lingam of fire. No longer would worship existed in his honor. And so it was.

Bhrigu, Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu

Maharishi Bhrigu

Why Shiva is worshiped in the form of lingam? Why Brahma hasn’t special worship and are very few the temples dedicated to him although he’s considered 'creator god'?

The variety of religious experiences existed for millennia in the Indian peninsula have often resulted in conflicts and disagreements that have also echoed in the myths, such as already I told in the sacrifice of Daksha and the death of Sati. Obviously each religious tradition narrates myths and legends in which its own God has prevailed over the others and this makes the mythological tradition, literary and cultural life of the Indian subcontinent very rich. Today I want to mention one of the many Vaishnava traditions narrated by many texts - including the Padma Purana - which recalls the curse of the sage Bhrgu hurled against Shiva and Brahma.

Well, during a great sacrifice held on Mount Mandara, the wise Brahmins wondered who was the greatest among the Gods Shiva, Brahma or Vishnu. The sage Manu - son of Prajapati - said: "He who is made of pure sattva, who has only the cohesive tendency (guna) and preserver without even a fraction of tamas, the tendency of dissolution, or raja, the centripetal tendency, he is the Absolute, the greatest of the Gods. "

To test who among the three gods were characterized by benevolent guna sattva, one of the Maharishi, the great sages, was chosen, he was Bhrgu, son of the God Varuna (or Prajapati). 

Bhrgu first went to Shiva. But the wise man could not even see the God, as he was stopped by Nandin - the bull vahana of Shiva - which did not allow him entry. "Shiva is enjoying the love of his consort Parvati, you cannot enter." The Brahmin - who like all the Brahmins was very touchy - got angry and cursed Shiva. "You, who are totally taken by tamas, obscured by passion, you don’t honor worthily a wise Brahmin will be transformed into a lingam and your wife in a yoni and you will be worshiped in that form, but not by the Brahmins."

Bhrgu then went to Brahma and could come before him, but the God, seated on a lotus, was immersed in rajas and he didn’t get up nor saluted the Brahmin.

"Because you're surrounded by rajas and have not honored me - cried Bhrgu to Brahma - you may not be worshiped by any devoted!”

The wise brahmin arrived finally in front of Vishnu, the God was sleeping lying on Ananta, the serpent residue (seshanaga) while his wife Lakshmi massaging the feet. Bhrgu came to God and placed his foot on his chest. Vishnu got up and said, "Thank you wise man, the touch of your foot is a blessing for me, the dust that falls from the feet of every Brahmins leads to salvation." So said Vishnu and donated to Bhrgu food and wealth and reserved a special attention.

Bhrgu then prostrated himself at the feet of Vishnu and worshiped him, "Thou, God of a thousand names, you Vasudeva, you Hari, you Narayana, thou Blessed One, thou Janardana, thou preserver of the Universe, you pervade everything, you are formed only by sattva, you’re the supreme deity and you alone will be worshiped by the brahmanas and by the twice-born. "